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Newport – Dan dives into the Patriots defense and the Laveranues Coles signing in the latest edition of Website Whispers . . .
So why is the Patriots defense 31st in the NFL?
“I think the Pats defense is a work in progress,” said one long-time Pats observer. “This defense is young and fast, but very inexperienced. They are giving up a ton of yards, but on the flipside they are creating turnovers and making important stops in crucial situations.
“If you just look at the statistics you wouldn’t think this defense has made plays. A good amount of yardage that has been given up has been when the Patriots were ahead, and the opponents were coming from behind. The defense was tremendous against the Steelers and late in the game against the Ravens. They are also not giving up the huge plays like they did last season. They make you work your way down the field.
“The problem they are having is there inexperience leads to mistakes. They are also horrible on third down, and still do not have a consistent pass rush.
“They have some young talent on all three levels of the defense. On the line you have (defensive lineman) Ron Brace who is continuing to make strides. At linebacker, you have potential impact players in [rookies] Jermaine Cunningham and Brandon Spikes. In the secondary, you have Devin McCourty at cornerback, and Patrick Chung at safety that have already made a difference this season.
“It all goes back to this unit being a work in progress. They are very inconsistent right now but have potential in the future to be a solid unit. The defense is probably a year or two away from being a solid unit.” . . .
Why did the Jets sign Laveranues Coles on Sunday, when wide receiver isn’t a position of need?
One Jet source told me, “We lost a Jet (Jim Leonhard) and we wanted to replace him with a Jet.”
Quite honestly, he’s probably going to be inactive, so this is purely a psychological move to help the players reeling over the loss of Jim Leonhard.
I always admired the heart Coles played with, but he left the team twice pissed off about his contract – once to go to Washington, and then Cincinnati.
It’s just strange to me that a guy, who left the team twice livid over his contract, is considered the quintessential Jet.
Coles is likely not going to be with the team long, so this could turn out to be a one week and out situation. And if it is, this was quite a retirement gift. The veteran minimum in the league is about $1 million, so he will get 1/17th of that. While there are 16 weeks of games, the pay is spread out of 17 with the bye week.
That is about $60,000.
The Jets are clearly very worried about the morale of the team after losing one of their leaders, and most popular players in Friday’s practice.
You could feel the air almost sucked out of the Jets’ Florham Park facility when news of Leonhard’s broken leg got out. It was a very depressed building on Friday.
So the Coles move is an attempt to boost morale.
I give them an “A” for creativity on this one, but it’s hard to discern what type of impact is will have.
After all, the Jets have turned over the roster quite a bit since Coles was last on the team in 2008, so a lot of guys hardly know him (except from a couple of weeks this summer).
But one thing he’s really good at is keeping guys loose. He’s very funny, always cracking jokes, and making fun of teammates in a comedic fashion. So perhaps more than a morale boost, he will do a good job keeping the guys loose entering their biggest game of the season.